Lin Xun got exasperated which was seldom to see. He rushed out of the room and kicked Fatty Shiao and The Bones out with a sullen face.

Then he took a deep breath, returned to the room and looked at Shia Zhi seriously. He asked, "Why do you do this?"

Shia Zhi with a stern look asked back, “You promised me.”

Lin Xun went blank and asked, “What did I promise?”

Shia Zhi replied, “To fight.”

Lin Xun stared at Shia Zhi silently.

Shia Zhi stared back with her clear and crescent-shaped eyes and didn’t yield an inch.

Until the atmosphere in the room became so depressing that it seemed hard to breathe, Lin Xun sighed, “Let’s have dinner first.”

He turned back, cleaned up the table, and put the sweetmeats, spiritual fruits, roast meat and other snacks one by one on the table.

Then they ate in total silence.

The dinner was extremely hearty, but Lin Xun only found them as tasteless as chewing wax. Finally, he laid down his chopsticks and said, "I’m just worried about you."

Shia Zhi nodded and replied, “I understand.”

Lin Xun retorted in a muffled voice, “No, you don’t. I grew up in similar environment with those vicious guys and had seen so many dirty and bloody things. So I knew once you got involved with that kind of people, you would definitely be affected by them!”

Shia Zhi thought for a while and said, “Even so, you are not one of them.”

Lin Xun replied crossly, “I’m different.”

Then Shia Zhi said, “Like you, I’m also different.”

It was like a tongue twister, but Lin Xun understood her meanings well enough. He couldn’t help but give another sigh.

At this time, Shia Zhi put down her bowl and chopsticks, looked at Lin Xun and said, “I know what I’m doing. But if you are so angry, I will pull myself out of it.”

She was a stunning beauty and always kept her tranquility, but now a firm determination was added to that tranquility.

Lin Xun kept silent for long but suddenly smiled with all facial lines softened. He shook his head and said, “No, I just wanted to test your attitude about it. And now that I have got the conclusion, I won’t oppose it anymore.”

Shia Zhi nodded.

Lin Xun filled her bowl with rice and said, “You should be careful latterly for the Clan of Wu may not let us off easy.”

Shia Zhi looked up and asked, “What’s your plan?”

Lin Xun shrugged and said, “Before taking any action, our top priority is to collect enough information to find out their strengths and weaknesses. This time we have to solve it all by ourselves.”

She uttered a soft “H’m” as response, a trace of chill flashing by in her clear eyes.

…

After dinner, Shia Zhi stood up straightly and said that she had to go out.

Lin Xun wanted to ask what she wanted to do, but kept mouth shut in the end. He could make a good guess at it but could do nothing about it except giving a sigh in his heart.

Even so, there was no need to worry about her safety for her fighting capacity was so mighty that even Lin Xun was no match for her. He believed that with some caution Shia Zhi wouldn’t come across any risk when dealing with those evil guys in this civilian area.

Dispelling all the distracting thoughts and sitting before the desk, Lin Xun took out that Swallow-wing Saber and a plate of Red-fire Spiritual Ink and focused his mind on refining Explosive-flame Saber.

The transaction with Golden Hall offered him a way of making money. For the sake of future cultivation, making more money was still the top priority.

Three hours later.

The Swallow-wing Saber on the desk suddenly brightened with clusters of flames on it, giving out booming sounds like that of roaring lava.

Again, he made it at one go! Lin Xun looked at the Explosive-flam Saber in his hand and couldn’t help but nodding with satisfaction.

“If Master Lu knew that I can make a low-grade Spiritual Weapon of Human Rank at the fifth level of Martial Realm without any failure, he must be really happy.”

Somehow, when Lin Xun thought of Master Lu, he also thought of the big hand that destroyed the prison.

A moment later, he took up the Purple-pheasant Inscribing Pen again and inscribed a spiritual mark on the handle of the dagger, which had the shape of the ancient Chinese character “Xun”.

Lin Xun still remembered that every time Master Lu inscribed spiritual tattoos, he would leave such a mark. According to Master Lu, this mark represented him, a unique mark of a spiritual tattooist. When others saw it, they would know who inscribed the spiritual tattoo.

And the “Xun” mark Lin Xun inscribed not only represented his name, but also in a way showed his determination of finding the person who took his Spiritual Vein away.

(Note: The Chinese character “尋” means to Seek.)

Deep into night, Shia Zhi still didn’t come back. Sitting cross-legged on bed, Lin Xun felt a little bit worried while regulating the spiritual energy throughout his body.

Fortunately, Shia Zhi got back when he finished cultivating.

As usual, she was in a black gown with her extraordinary beautiful face under the hood.

Lin Xun scanned her up and down for some time and finally made sure that she was not hurt. Then he said, “Come back early in the future.”

Shia Zhi said she would, washed her face cursorily and then lay on the bed quietly.

Lin Xun blew out the candlelight, and immediately the room fell into the darkness, only some faint starlight passed through the window, leaving some blurred spots of light on the ground.

Some growling and barking were heard from the alley afar, which made the atmosphere in the room even quieter.

“Lin Xun, I killed the gang leader of another district. I didn’t remember his name, but I took over all his men.”

In the darkness, Shia Zhi, with her crescent-shaped eyes open, said softly, “The trophies should be sorted out tomorrow. I told them to cash them all. Aren’t you lacking money now? No matter how much they send to me tomorrow, I’ll give them all to you.”

Lin Xun was practicing the Meditating Magic and closed his senses, so he didn’t hear a word of what Shia Zhi said.

Shia Zhi didn’t seem to care if Lin Xun could hear her or not and just went on, “As for the information about the Clan of Wu, I also arranged people to prob and collect. You may not know that although these gangsters are not good people, they do have some gateways that we don’t have access to. Besides, Fatty Shiao had promised that he would get all the needed information tomorrow.”

Her eyes were so clear like freshly-washed black gems, her voice so ethereal and particularly pleasant to the ear in the tranquil night.

“In short, with me around, you don’t have worry about anything. Do you really think that I didn’t notice the bad attitude Mu Wansu towards you? That woman is quite narrow-minded. Sooner or later I will teach her a good lesson. Hope by that time you won’t get so angry like today….”

Speaking of this, she lowered her voice and seemed a little bit down.

Then there was a long silence before her sweet murmurs were faintly heard, “My name is Shia Zhi. Since I was a kid, my world has been full of darkness. But you…you let me see the light….”

…

At this time, the Sea of Lin Xun’s Consciousness was all dark too, and the only source of light was that bright star hanging highly on the sky.

The star was also called the Spiritual Star.

The more Spiritual Stars one lit, the more beneficial it was for refining the soul.

Until the scene of “Spiritual Stars surrounding the Great Universe” was formed in the Sea of Consciousness, one could say he had successfully finished the Mastery level of the Star Circulation, the first level of the Meditating Magic.

But now Lin Xun’s soul had just stepped over the threshold of Star Circulation. With only one Spiritual Star lit, there was a long way from the level of Mastery.

Strands of swaying star lights, like tranquil water waves, was nourishing his soul quietly.

At this point, with mind vacant and pure, Lin Xun could feel clearly that his perceptive power was recovering.

Be it the night before or this night, refining spiritual weapons consumed not only his spiritual power but also the perceptive power of his soul.

Generally, spiritual tattooists, after refining a spiritual weapon, needed to rest for as short as 2 to 3 days or as long as half a month to recover all the perceptive power consumed.

But for Lin Xun, due to the Meditating Magic, it was not a problem any more. When he exhausted his perceptive power, just by observing and pondering on the Star Circulation, he could recover thoroughly overnight.

And Lin Xun found that the constantly consuming and recovering of perceptive power was also beneficial for refining his soul power. This was especially true if he practiced Meditating Magic after consuming large quantities of perceptive power, yielding twice the result with the same effort.

Like exhaling the old and inhaling the new, that process refined and promoted his soul in all the consumptions and recoveries.

Like right now, Lin Xun clearly felt that when his perceptive power recovered, his body seemed so full of power that it wanted to burst out. He didn’t suppress the restless power, and naturally this perceptive power erupted and blasted off in an instant, seemingly flying back to that remote starry sky.

The moment Lin Xun woke up, he saw that a dim star in the Sea of his Consciousness brightened suddenly, echoing with the first Spiritual Star at a distance.

Just over two months later, Lin Xun lit another Spiritual Star!

There was a buzzing sound!

At the same time, Lin Xun’s soul shook due to a tickling feeling. Like opening a new window, Lin Xun just felt his Soul Power increased abruptly. Before he could only radiate his perception for about 33 meters, but now he could capture even the smallest details of things within the scope of over 66 meters!

Meanwhile, his Six Senses, i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, became even more keen and sensitive to the extent that he could clearly sense the subtle changes in the air like the floating dust.

It seemed that suddenly the whole world changed, becoming more magnificent with rich layers of pictures, which made Lin Xun kind of reveled in it.

This demonstrated how the Soul Power recognized the whole through observing the details. What made practitioners great was their ability to see what others couldn’t see, observe what other couldn’t observe and control the power others couldn’t control!

When Lin Xun finished his cultivation, the sun was getting above the horizon – it was totally a new day.

And in this very day, a piece of news, saying that the Golden Hall would sell a peerless saber, swept over the streets and alleys of Donglin Town like windstorms, causing quite a stir.